MaRS Centre, West Tower, 661 University Avenue, Suite 505
Location
Toronto
,
Canada
Website
www.cifar.ca
The Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) is a Canadian-based global research organization that brings together teams of top researchers from around the world to address important and complex questions. It was founded in 1982 and is supported by individuals, foundations and corporations, as well as funding from the Government of Canada and the provinces of Alberta and Quebec.
Operationsedit
CIFAR staff supports more than 400 researchers from 21 countries and more than 140 institutions.[1] Approximately half of the researchers are based in Canada and half are located abroad. The President and CEO is directly responsible to the Chair and the Board of Directors, who are responsible for funding allocation and approval of research programs. In November 2022, Stephen Toope became president and CEO.[2] William L. Young is the chair of CIFAR's Board of Directors.[3] CIFAR receives funding from a blend of governments, partnerships (research organizations and universities), private sector (corporations, foundations and individuals) and investment income. CIFAR's annual budget in 2018 was $30M.[4] In 2017, CIFAR was asked by the Government of Canada to develop and lead the Pan-Canadian Artificial Intelligence Strategy.[5]
Research programsedit
As of 2023, CIFAR supports research in 15 major multidisciplinary areas:[6]
Molecular Architecture of Life (established 2014, closing 2020)
Processedit
CIFAR (pronounced "see-far") works with researchers around the world to identify major new areas of scholarship with potential for transformative knowledge. The organization assembles diverse groups of scholars in its programs, many of whom are established leaders in their fields, and others who are promising early-career researchers.
The CIFAR research model relies on deep collaboration at regular program meetings. These meetings bring together researchers from different countries, institutions, disciplines and levels of experience, who might not otherwise meet.
By building long-term, interdisciplinary, global communities, CIFAR provides researchers with an environment of trust that inspires risk-taking and new directions of inquiry.
Each research program also develops a knowledge mobilization strategy that includes roundtables, panel discussions, and workshops to bring researchers together with experts outside academia in order to enrich research and stimulate social, economic and technical innovations.
Periodically, CIFAR will refresh its portfolio by initiating a Global Call for Ideas and inviting the global research community to submit proposals for new programs that address complex, fundamental questions of importance to the world.[7] After a rigorous process involving workshops, interviews and consultations with expert panels, new programs are selected. Programs are run on five-year renewal cycles.
Historyedit
CIFAR was founded in 1982. The original idea for an institute for advanced studies came from John Leyerle, a professor of English and dean of the School of Graduate Studies at the University of Toronto who began rallying support for the concept in 1978.[8] The centre would serve to "foster basic, conceptual research of high quality at an advanced level across the full spectrum of knowledge in the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences and life sciences."[9]Fraser Mustard, a medical doctor and researcher in early childhood development, was appointed as founding president of CIFAR in January 1982. The first 25 years of its history is covered in the book A Generation of Excellence by Craig Brown.[10]
CIFAR fellows published several papers in 1994, including "Why are some people healthy and others not",[11] that argued policies driven by population health could address health disparities. They named 10 determinants of health, listing socio-economic status as the most influential. The government adopted the term population health and renamed a branch of the Public Health Agency of Canada "Population and Public Health."[12]
In 2004, Geoffrey Hinton began leading CIFAR's Neural Computation & Adaptive Perception program. Its members included Yoshua Bengio and Yann LeCun, among other neuroscientists, computer scientists, biologists, electrical engineers, physicists, and psychologists. Together, they confirmed Hinton's conviction about the power of neural networks when they created computing systems that mimicked human intelligence. Today, the three are widely acknowledged as the pioneers of deep learning. In 2019, the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) named Hinton, Bengio and LeCun as recipients of the 2018 ACM A.M. Turing Award for conceptual and engineering breakthroughs that have made deep neural networks a critical component of computing.[13]
In 2017, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) renewed and enhanced its funding for CIFAR, investing $35 million over five years. The government also announced that CIFAR will administer a $125 million Pan-Canadian Artificial Intelligence Strategy for research and talent.[15] In 2022, CIFAR announced the second phase of the Pan-Canadian Artificial Intelligence Strategy, which includes up to $208 million in federal support to CIFAR over ten years.[16]
CIFAR has been led by a series of notable Presidents: Fraser Mustard from 1982 to 1996, J. Stefan Dupré from 1996 to 2000, Chaviva Hošek from 2001 to 2012, and Alan Bernstein from 2012 to 2022.[17] The current President, as of 2023, is Stephen Toope.[2]
Since the institute's inception, 20 Nobel laureates have been associated with CIFAR.[18]
^"CIFAR Pan-Canadian Artificial Intelligence Strategy". CIFAR. Retrieved 17 October 2019.
^"Research Programs". CIFAR. Retrieved 7 May 2023.
^"CIFAR short-lists 12 proposals in Global Call for Ideas". CIFAR. 19 April 2018. Retrieved 17 October 2019.
^Brown, Robert Craig (2007). A Generation of Excellence: A History of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research. University of Toronto Press. doi:10.3138/9781442683952. ISBN 978-0-8020-9232-8.
^Brown, Craig. A Generation of Excellence. The Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, 2007. Published by the University of Toronto Press. ISBN 978-0-8020-9232-8
^Brown, Craig. A Generation of Excellence. The Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, 2007. Published by the University of Toronto Press. ISBN 978-0-8020-9232-8
^Evans, Robert G.; Barer, Morris L.; Marmor, Theodore R. (2017). Barer, Morris (ed.). Why are Some People Healthy and Others Not?. doi:10.4324/9781315135755. ISBN 9781315135755. S2CID 42672324.
^Kirk, M, Tomm-Bonde, L, Schreiber, R. "Public health reform and health promotion in Canada." Global Health Promotion, vol. 21, no. 2 15-22 (June, 2014).
^Farrow, Jon (March 27, 2019). "Turing Award honours CIFAR's 'pioneers of AI'". CIFAR. Retrieved 17 October 2019.
^First World Happiness Report Launched at the United Nations. 2012. Retrieved 2015-01-15. http://www.earth.columbia.edu/articles/view/2960
^"Canada counters Silicon Valley talent raid with fresh funding for AI". The Globe and Mail. 28 March 2017.
^"CIFAR announces plans for second phase of the Pan-Canadian Artificial Intelligence Strategy". 22 June 2022.
^CIFAR By the Numbers. Canadian Institute for Advanced Research. http://www.cifar.ca/cifar-by-the-numbers Archived 2014-09-17 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2014-15-05
^George A. Akerlof. Nobelprize.org. Stockholm: Nobel Foundation. http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/economic-sciences/laureates/2001/akerlof-facts.html. Retrieved 2014-15-05.
^Philip W. Anderson - Facts. Nobelprize.org. Stockholm: Nobel Foundation.. http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1977/anderson-facts.html. Retrieved 2014-15-05.
^Kenneth J. Arrow - Facts. Nobelprize.org. Stockholm: Nobel Foundation.. http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/economic-sciences/laureates/1972/arrow-facts.html. Retrieved 2014-15-05.
^"Willard S. Boyle - Biographical." Nobelprize.org. Stockholm: Nobel Foundation. http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/2009/press.html.
^"The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2012". NobelPrize.org. Retrieved 2018-10-16.
^Robert B. Laughlin - Facts. Nobelprize.org. Stockholm: Nobel Foundation. http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1998/laughlin-facts.html. Retrieved 2014-15-05.
^Anthony J. Leggett - Facts. Nobelprize.org. Stockholm: Nobel Foundation. http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/2003/leggett-facts.html. Retrieved 2014-15-05.
^"The Nobel Prize in Physics 2015". NobelPrize.org. Retrieved 2024-02-15.
^Roger B. Myerson - Facts. Nobelprize.org. Stockholm: Nobel Foundation. http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/economic-sciences/laureates/2007/myerson-facts.html. Retrieved 2014-15-05.
^"Press release: The Nobel Prize in Physics 2019". nobelprize.org. Retrieved 17 October 2019.
^John C. Polanyi - Facts. Nobelprize.org. Stockholm: Nobel Foundation. http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1986/polanyi-facts.html. Retrieved 2014-15-05.
^Richard J. Roberts - Facts. Nobelprize.org. Stockholm: Nobel Foundation. http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/medicine/laureates/1993/roberts-facts.html. Retrieved 2014-15-05.
^"The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel 2018". NobelPrize.org. Retrieved 2018-10-16.
^Michael Smith - Facts. Nobelprize.org. Stockholm: Nobel Foundation. http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/chemistry/laureates/1993/smith-facts.html. Retrieved 2014-15-05.
^"The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1995". NobelPrize.org. Retrieved 2018-10-16.
^"The Nobel Prize in Physics 2012". NobelPrize.org. Retrieved 2018-10-16.